Tony Mowbray makes remarkable illness reveal in verdict on Sunderland's draw at Blackpool

The Black Cats had already seen their options in defence severely depleted by injury ahead of the game, and Mowbray said that it was credit to his players that they were leaving Bloomfield Road disappointed not to get all three points.

Sunderland were well short of their best in the first half and fell behind due to a Shayne Lavery goal, but equalised through Ross Stewart and missed a host of big chances throughout an impressive second-half revival.

Mowbray revealed that Luke O'Nien was not expected to play until this morning, and that though he was named on the bench Corry Evans was well short of fitness.

Sunderland included 15-year-old Chris Rigg in the matchday squad for the first time, while 16-year-old Tom Watston joined the group in the North West as a result of the issues and Ellis Simms' recall by Everton.

"I don't think they were dominating in the first half necessarily, I just think we weren't as good as we needed to be," Mowbray reflected afterwards.

"We started pretty slowly. We changed formation mid-half to give us more targets and I thought after about 25 minutes we started to control the game.

"In the end we're really frustrated we didn't win the game and I think that's fair, we created a lot of chances in the second half. "There's things to work on but it's good that the players are coming away from a Championship game disappointed that they haven't taken three points.

"I think that shows how far they've come - but we do feel we have missed an opportunity. That's the mindset.

"We've had a lot of illness in the camp and maybe that was partly why we started slowly. Our first day of training after Wigan I think there were only six who trained, and then 11 or 12 the next day. A few of the lads who played this afternoon have been in their beds the last couple of days with illness.

"We've also got eight or nine injured who would have been strong contenders to start the game.

"The numbers were getting really short, Luke O'Nien wasn't expected to play until this morning when he said that he didn't feel as bad and that he could give it a go.

"Corry Evans sat on the bench but he wasn't really available. It's great credit to the team that we put out today that they're leaving really, really disappointed that they didn't win. We had some big footballers not available and yet they still showed we can give teams more than a good football match."

Sunderland hope that their defensive options will have eased by the time they travel to Shrewsbury Town for their FA Cup 3rd round tie next weekend, while the head coach said discussions around adding to the group in the transfer market had 'accelerated' following Simms' return to Goodison Park.